


you don't know you the way i do

by protegostark (aaeiilnn)



Series: all that i love (all that i need) [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Gen, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Rhodey is an auror, St Mungo's Hospital, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony is an inventor, also the IM your emergency contact?????, can also be read as, its the im kinda on drugs and dont recognize yiu but let me compliment you cliche, pre-James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aaeiilnn/pseuds/protegostark
Summary: "Why are you looking at me like that?" Tony asked. "I'm not the one who got an injury this time."Rhodey laughed a bit at his words. "You sound like him too.""Like who?""Tony Stark." Rhodey answered seriously, much to Tony's amusement. "You look and sound exactly like him. It's amazing!"Prompts:HPQuoteBingo: "What's wrong with him? Is his mind affected?"SuperpowerBingo: Teleportation
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Series: all that i love (all that i need) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623931
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	you don't know you the way i do

**Author's Note:**

> this has been finished for months I think??? I just keep forgetting to post it.
> 
> while i acknowledge and support and love iron husbands as a god tier ship, ive never actually read/written one with them in an established relationship, so this just highlights their friendship (which is also beautiful) and can probably be read as a pre-relationship if you want to
> 
> title from: the way i do by team starkid
> 
> Prompts:  
> HPQuoteBingo: "What's wrong with him? Is his mind affected?"  
> SuperpowerBingo: Teleportation

Let it be said and known that Anthony Edward Stark absolutely _hates_ apparating. He isn't bad at it and the nausea and vomiting stopped after the third try, but there's something about it that doesn't sit right with him at all. It's just the absolute worst.

If he were to choose, he'd rather take the Floo Network with all the soot and ashes you get covered in when you use it. At least there's an element of the unexpected if you mispronounce a certain letter in a word. Even better, portkeys are such an interesting way to travel. Take any random object, cast a spell, then go spinning hysterically to your destination. Of course, Tony only realized its appeal when he's learned how to properly float through the air and land with as much grace as he can (not that that means much).

But Tony's absolute favorite way of travelling is the 1967 Shelby Cobra muggle car that he had acquired a while back and named FRIDAY. She was just a beautiful piece of art, painted red with two gold stripes running across the hood. The car Tony had acquired is what muggles would call a 'convertible', and so the top part of the car, the roof, could be retracted. This was especially enjoyable in the rare times Tony actually leaves his workshop and goes for a drive to take in a bit of fresh air for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a couple of hours. Or the time needed to drive the car. Not to mention it would have been confusing in terms of directions. He also was in too much of a rush to make a portkey, and was in such a panicked state of mind that he forgot the Floo Network was the most ideal mode of transportation.

Because St. Mungo's is a no-apparating zone.

And Tony was a bit of an idiot in a rush to get there, so he apparated and appeared at the street across it.

He cursed once he realized where he was and went running to the main doors. Tony slammed them open and probably looked a bit crazy considering he was in his work clothes, and his hair was a bit of a mess due to some mini explosion that he had (accidentally?) caused. 

"James Rhodes," he gasped out to the receptionist once he had located her, a bit out of breath. "I'm looking for James Rhodes."

When he was still in Hogwarts, Tony had scored top marks in all his classes, especially Charms and Alchemy, and decided to abandon his father's chosen government-related path to start up his own company that invents, reinvents, and improves spells, enchantments, and other magical objects and artifacts. His best friend, Rhodey, on the other hand, had also achieved top marks in most of his subjects (particularly Charms and DADA) and decided to become an auror.

A frustrating decision, really. He could have been part of Tony's now very successful and very famous company, but Rhodey had chosen a dangerous career instead, _where he could get hurt!_ Tony had said those exact words, though it probably didn't make much of a point considering his face was covered in black soot and his hair was all blown up as a result of a spell gone wrong.

But _this_ is what he meant!

Tony is now running down the hallway, following the receptionist's directions, ignoring a healer's exclamation to slow down.

Why?

Because he received an urgent letter that states James Rhodes has been injured during auror training. (Which is so _stupid_! If he got injured in training, imagine how bad it could have been if it was real!)

Tony stopped at the right door and took a bit of time to regain his breath. (He's really exhausted though, maybe it's him who needs the training. _Honestly_ , it shouldn't take him this long to be able to breathe normally. It wasn't even that far of a run.) His hand reaches for the handle and turns it, pushing the door open.

He doesn't notice Rhodey first, because standing near the door was someone Tony can see is either a ministry official or another auror. The next figure he sees is a female healer who looked up immediately at his entrance and shot him a comforting smile.

"Mr. Stark," the ministry official/auror calls his attention, "I am here to inform you of the situation that caused Auror James Rhodes to be brought to St. Mungo's."

At Tony's blank stare and lack of response, he continued with his report. "Three hours ago, the daily auror training had begun and Auror Rhodes had participated. Being given the objective, Auror Rhodes had attempted to reach the target location and his leg had been splinched due to Auror Dorris accidentally making contact with him in his apparition. Auror Dorris is also being treated for being splinched. Additionally, Auror Rhodes has apparated into a non-clear area at the time and had been caught in the crossfire of other aurors, resulting to a deep cut from his neck to his shoulder and a bruised rib."

The healer, seeming to sense the distress Tony was developing after each word, stepped in and took over the explanation with a calming voice. "He lost a bit of blood, and so we gave him a replenishing potion which dealt with that quite quickly. There are no traces of a bruised rib as it has now been completely healed. And the cut was closed and healed as soon as we were able to confirm that it didn't hit anything important. Which it didn't."

The man nodded curtly at the healer's addition and looked back at Tony. "Are there any further questions?"

It was so professional and detached that Tony had only nodded with no words and he moved to leave after a short, scripted 'We hope to see Auror Rhodes in better health soon'. But a question did come up to mind when the man was nearly at the door.

"Why did you inform me?" 

The official tilted his head at the question and looked down at the folder he had with him. "You've been placed down as his emergency contact, sir."

"Yes, so I gathered. But why?" Tony waved him off, a bit impatient. "He has his mother? His cousin?"

"Mr. Stark, our job is to inform the emergency contact, and the emergency contact only. You were Auror Rhodes' chosen emergency contact. Any further spreading of information to family members would be up to you and the patient only." The man nodded his head again, as if he was in a rush and needed to leave. So, Tony let him.

"He seems to be waking up." The healer's words tales his attention and he looks at her with wide eyes. "Just in time as well. Though, I think he's not really quite here with us yet given all the potions he had to drink earlier."

Tony moved to sit on the chair at the bedside and held Rhodey's hand. "Is that a bad thing? Was he, what, overdosed?"

"No, none of that sort." The healer shook her head with an amused smile. "He just had to intake some potions to make sure no further unseen damages happened. It's just that those potions always seem to be followed by the most interesting stories…"

"What are you doing here?" Tony's eyes snapped to his friend, who already had his eyes open and seemed to be talking quite forcefully to the glass of water on his bedside table. "If _you're_ here, who's in the ocean?"

A moment of silence followed before Tony slowly turned to the healer who was openly stopping herself from laughing. "Wh-What's wrong with him? Is his mind affected? You said he was—"

"He's fine, Mr. Stark." The healer moved forward to grab the glass of water and let Rhodey take a sip. "He's just not yet very much aware. Similar to how a person would be when they want to stay in bed for a bit longer in the mornings."

Tony nodded at her words, finding them acceptable. "And it will wear off?"

"Yes, of course." She stepped back again and looked at him with a smile. "I'll leave you both now, but should you need any assistance, do not hesitate to ask outside."

Once the door closed, Tony looked at his friend who just stared back with furrowed eyebrows.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Tony asked. "I'm not the one who got an injury this time."

Rhodey laughed a bit at his words. "You sound like him too."

"Like who?"

"Tony Stark." Rhodey answered seriously, much to Tony's amusement. "You look and sound _exactly_ like him. It's amazing! He's the… ah, what's that muggle term… CEO! CEO of ARC Industries. It's like the founder. Well, not 'like', he is the founder." 

"Is he now?"

"Yeah, yeah. He does these spells, and even makes his own sometimes. Amazing, really. He's a friend of mine."

"He must be a lot of trouble, huh."

"Nah, well," Rhodey tilted his head as if reconsidering his answer. "I think he's great, he always tries his best, you know? It's really an honor to be considered his friend 'cause there's not much who can keep up. Though, I don't think people actually deserve to be his friend, he's too _good_ for them."

Tony shook his head and smiled softly. "I think he should be honored to be your friend instead."

Rhodey snorted. "Oh, he is. He tries to be subtle about it, but the man's overflowing with affections for people around him. He's trying to submit a recommendation to the card makers — you know, the chocolate frog card thing — to convince them to put me and Pepper in. He thinks we don't know but all his documents pass Pepper and Pepper told me about it."

"Well, it was meant to be a surprise, but I guess that's not a Christmas present now." Tony muttered to himself before looking back to Rhodey with a bright smile. "What were you telling the water? Earlier? The glass of water?"

"Oh!" Rhodey exclaimed, his eyes brightened up. "It's here and—" He cut himself off with a gasp as he views the glass now completely empty after having drunk it all up earlier. "I drank it all." He says, sounding completely horrified.

"Yes, if you need more, I can—"

"No, no." Rhodey sat up and took the glass in his hands, cradling it close as if it's the most important thing in the world. "You don't understand. I drank the water. I drank _all_ of the water."

Rhodey looked at Tony, who was shocked to see his friend's eyes tearing up. "Where are all the _merpeople_ gonna swim now?"

Tony was stumped into silence again. He had thought Rhodey was slowly snapping out of it, but it seemed to be still in full effect. Rhodey was looking at the glass at eye level and was muttering all sorts of things to himself about how to save the fishes, merpeople, and the giant squid.

He leaned back on his chair and let his eyes close for a moment. The adrenaline and fear that had got him to St. Mungo's despite two and a half days of intense workshop tinkering and inventing was slowly wearing off as he listened to Rhodey's undecipherable ramblings. (At some point, he thinks Rhodey had hummed some sort of sad song to the glass, as if sending it off to death.)

"Tony?" His name was called out, the voice a bit more sober. He looked up to see Rhodey clutching the empty glass, but looking much more alert and very confused. "What happened? Did you get hurt?"

Tony raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the one in the hospital bed with the gown and all, platypus. You figure it out."

He was met with another beat of confused silence before Tony took mercy on his friend and started to explain. "You got splinched then got hit in the crossfire. And you ask me why I hate apparating."

"It's much more efficient."

"Yeah, to get hurt."

Rhodey rolled his eyes and stopped the argument they've had repeatedly. "Ah, right," he mumbled. "You're my emergency contact."

Tony sat up straight. "Yes, that's right. How exactly did that happen?"

"What do you mean?" Rhodey asked with furrowed eyebrows. "I made you my emergency contact. No one else can do it for me."

"Yeah, but why not your mother? Or, hey, didn't you mention a distant cousin who lived somewhere in Ireland before?"

The auror sighed. "I would say I didn't want to worry my mother endlessly considering I'm an auror and will constantly get injured. I would also say that it's pointless for me to choose that distant cousin considering we've never even met. But I don't think those are what you should hear because you're gonna take it up the wrong way and think I chose you because I had no other choice.

"Tony, I made you my emergency contact because I trust you, don't I? You're my emergency contact the same way that I'm yours, don't try to deny it, because we've got each other's backs. Plus, you're my best friend. Is this really something that hasn't sunk into your head yet?"

Tony narrowed his eyes, and his friend copied his expression. "Platypus, I think you're still out of it. You're doing the feelings and emotions thing when you know I'm allergic to it. I'm gonna go get that nice healer to take a look at your head."

Rhodey laughed as Tony stood and walked to the door, keeping a suspicious look on his friend and the empty glass he was still holding. "That doesn't change the fact you're my bestest friend ever, Tony Stark!"

"Oh no, it seems to be worse than I thought. You might be dying! Let me just go get somebody to help, Rhodey. You're going to live!" The determined exclamation had a tone of amusement in it as he opened the door.

"Alright, Anthony Edward Stark! Go save me, you great, great friend of mine!" Rhodey yelled as the door closed, his own laughter interrupting his words.

**Author's Note:**

> did I put teleportation as a prompt knowing i was gonna use apparating? yes
> 
> the idea of emergency contacts is slightly inspired by the Sherlock fic series: The Emergency Contact Series by blueink3  
> and the idea of cute im not in the right mind because of meds hut let me gush about you is from the many other fics that has that idea
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
